Immigration: Another Divisive Issue in Play by President Obama

Jim Leahy27 April 2010No Comment

I can’t figure out why but the Obama administration and the Democrat controlled Congress have decided to bring immigration reform back into the headlines.

I don’t know if they believe their own press releases or if they have a death wish but the majority of Americans both Democrat and Republican are against any move to legalize any of the 12 million illegals in the country.

With unemployment hovering around 10% and over 20% in the construction industry bringing this issue up will be a death knell for any politician of either party. No matter what the MSM says, it’s not only Republicans who are against amnesty; the African American community is just as opposed.

African American unemployment is at 16%, double that in some inner cities. Any sane person should understand that now is not the time to legalize millions of people who will take jobs from Americans. If people were against this legislation when unemployment was at 4 and 5% it’s just common sense that even more people would be against it when it’s double that.

Even Senator McCain whose stand on the immigration issue arguably cost him the Presidency, is now in favor of arresting and deporting illegals. It took a war on his states border and his reelection for him to see the light but he now agrees with a majority of Americans. It’s a little too late for Robert Krentz, the Rancher who’s murder has brought a new sense of urgency and anger to the immigration issue. Things are getting dicey on the border with more and more violence against Americans and the illegal’s as well. It’s time something is done about it.

Arizona just passed the toughest illegal alien law in the country. What is it? They are going to demand people pulled over to produce their proof of citizenship. Boy is that tough? I think most Americans would agree if the police pull someone over and they are in the country illegally that they should be arrested and deported as long as they are not criminals. If they are criminals they should do their time and be taken right to the border when they finish their sentences.

I know states say it is a federal issue but for 200 years in this country the local police would detain people who were not citizens. There was a time when someone showed up at a school to register their children they would be asked for proof of citizenship. I don’t mean just Hispanics it was anyone who couldn’t speak English or had an accent, Irish, German, Polish it didn’t matter if you didn’t have a green card you couldn’t enroll your kid in school.

How many people would choose to live someplace where if you ran a stop sign you could be deported? How many people would choose to live where you couldn’t send their kid to school? These are easy enforcement tools and they work. It’s time for all of the other states to follow Arizona’s lead and use common sense laws to shrink the size of the illegal population without rounding people up and having mass deportations. People will voluntarily head back to their countries and not risk the break up of their families if they think there would be any chance of being caught. There is nothing racist about looking out for citizens and enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, its common sense.

If President Obama thinks people are angry about the way he passed his health care bill, let him try to pass comprehensive immigration reform in this congress. If the Democrats try to pass any reform before the next election, what we have seen so far with the tea parties will be nothing. People will take to the streets and this time nobody will be able to say its just old white guys. It will accomplish one thing Obama said he wanted to do and that’s bringing Americans together, but it will be in protest.